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Miners Struggle With a Federal Cave-In

It takes the average American mine seven to 10 years to move from permitting to production.

By

Daniel McGroarty

July 24, 2014 7:17 p.m. ET

The Environmental Protection Agency last week put forth new restrictions that would essentially block the Pebble Mine, a proposed multi-metal project in the Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska. For months the EPA has argued that under the Clean Water Act it can prevent the mine before the company has even filed for a permit.

The EPA had never invoked this authority before Pebble, and activists are calling the extreme tactics necessary to fight an extreme project. Joel Reynolds, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense...